Huge elephant bird egg sells for $101K

Partially-fossilized egg of now-extinct bird measures a foot long

A rare, giant egg from the long-extinct elephant bird recently sold for more than $101,000 at a UK auction.

The partially-fossilized egg is a foot long and nearly nine inches in diameter -- more than 100 times the size of a chicken egg, according to Sky News.

It went to an anonymous telephone bidder for 66,675 pounds ($101,813) at Christie's auction house in London on Wednesday.

That's more than double what it had been valued at, The Associated Press reported.

Possibly the largest bird ever, elephant birds looked a bit like heavily-built ostriches and could grow to be 11 feet high.

Researchers believe they were hunted to extinction several hundred years ago.

While fragments of their eggs can be found on the island of Madagascar, intact specimens are very rare. The one sold on Wednesday is believed to date back to before the 17th century, according to the AP.

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